RISC OS advocate Paul Vigay, whose body was found off the coast of Portsmouth last year, left behind a list of his passwords and a note to his girlfriend saying "I love you", an inquest has heard.

ISP owner and crop circle researcher Paul, 44, had split with his girlfriend Andrea Louie Smith on the night of his death and was £10,000 in debt. His body was discovered in the sea in February 2009; reports showed there was no suspicious circumstances, no suicide note and no sign of struggle on Paul's body, and that he had only consumed a small quantity of alcohol. There was no CCTV footage or witnesses to the death, leading a coroner to admit that his death will remain a mystery.

Newsgroup postings and the Portsmouth local newspaper are reporting that Paul Vigay was this morning found dead near his home in Southsea after being reported missing last night. His death is not being treated as suspicious. An online book of condolence has been opened for Paul.

Paul was well known throughout the RISC OS community. He became interested in computers around 1978 and had an extensive knowledge of a range of computer platforms from Acorn, Commodore, Sinclair and Atari to mainframe and mini systems to 'current' machines such as Iyonix's, PCs and Macs. In 2005 he started his RISC OS friendly ISP, Orpheus Internet.

In this article we look at some of the programs and projects - some obvious, others less so - that influenced the history of the RISC OS platform and its users. These are our suggestions, not a top ten and certainly not in any particular order. What other applications would you add to the list?

Happy New Year from The Icon Bar! That's your lot for 2006, and we'd like to thank everyone who has supported us over the last year. Special credit goes to those who have written articles, given us abuse, and Richard Goodwin who makes this site happen.

Chris Williams has given out the RISC OS equivalent of New Years Honours on his website. No real surprises with Martin Wuerthner gaining this (last) years top award.

What are your hopes and predictions for RISC OS, and the wider technology world in 2007?

Well, it's that time of year again. By the time many of you read this Christmas will probably have been and gone, and the other three of you will be too busy stuffing yourselves, possibly with mince pies and the contents of the random bottle of something you found in the back of the cupboard, to notice what this posting says.

Because here at The Icon Bar, we know you're all interested to know, I've recieved word that The Paul Vigay won't be leaving his computer alone on Christmas day, as he tells me he gets withdrawal symptoms if he does. And for all you Vigay-lovers out there, I've provided you with a quick link to The Vigay's Christmas Speech that he sent out the other day to his Orpheus customers. Enjoy!

Wherever you are and whatever you're doing, all of us here at The Icon Bar hope you have a magical Christmas and the most wonderful New Year.

Most people know my views on RISC OS and also on other, lesser operating systems - so why did I feel inspired to write this short article and share my views with people? Partly in response to an article on The Icon Bar and partly because there are a number of (IMHO) rather ignorant, yet arrogant, PC users inhabiting some of the comp.sys.acorn.* newsgroups who love to complain about RISC OS and prosthetalize about how good PC applications are to their RISC OS counterparts - usually without the skill set or experience to make a valid judgement. I'm all for argument, but when people argue through ignorance or though blinkers, I feel like shouting "Oi! No!" in their faces, but instead I'll settle for writing this article.

Are you in Paul's camp? If the ship went down, would you go with it?

Update: Well, The Vigay received quite a slapping on OSNews, it seems. He's written a follow-up article and published it this evening. OK, that's the update. You can continue slapping now.